Can only save new contacts as phone-only, unsynced contact

When I add a new contact, there is only the option to save it as a “phone-only, unsynced contact”. It can’t offer Google because I use FPOOS (Android 7-based) without GMS (and with Xprivacy). However, it also doesn’t offer other options (not sure if it should. I have a SIM card and the alternative messengers Telegram and Signal). When pressing the words or the question mark, nothing happens. When pressing “more fields” on the bottom, the “phone-only, unsynced contact” part doesn’t change and doesn’t become any more interactive. If fact, none of the usual tips found online work.

Also, when I add contacts, they don’t seem to get linked with Signal or Telegram anymore since the update to Android 7-based FPOOS.

Could you please help with this problem?

Please also consider the issue I just posted in this topic: Apps can’t read SIM card contacts

This is intended, since Signal (and I assume Telegram too) don’t sync/back up your contacts, but only read them to provide their services.
I you want to sync your contacts to an external service you have to install a separate app, e.g. a cloud storage app or DAVx5.

2 Likes

Thank you very much for your response!

Today I have added a contact’s phone no. into my contacts list, then registered a Signal account for her on her phone and let my Signal sync with my phone’s contacts list. It did find her as a Signal contact and linked her accordingly (tapping on her shows me the phone number as well as the Signal contact). So this actually works.

But when I add a new contact and want to save it on the SIM, there’s still no option for that. Is that intended behavior on Android 7? Is storing directly on your SIM card and reading from it considered that outdated?

Yes it is. If you want to export your contacts to your SIM card, you need to use the export feature in the contacts app (3 dots => impot/export).

1 Like

That’s very unfortunate. I was perfectly happy with SIMs so far. Never did one break, unlike phones. And I would have loved some kind of notice that we’re moving away from SIMs… But I guess it’s actually about data. They can’t hold much of it and it’s what Google runs on…

Anyway, the problem that no app incl. the Contacts app finds my SIM contacts still exists: Apps can’t read SIM card contacts Do you have any idea what could cause that?

This topic was automatically closed 182 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.